When Reading a Book Goes Horribly Wrong

[Kestrel she/her]

The lack of romance is what makes novels good, not the presence of it. 

hello yes I do need my fluffy scenes.

[Iarwainiel I she/her]

Must add more confessions here.

 

I have tried 2 of Charles Stross's books and couldn't get very far. Someone told me that his books aren't very character-driven, and I'm guessing that's where I had trouble. But I have good friends that Stross is their favorite author, so I know it's me.

 

Also - and this is very bad - I have now attempted to read "Ancillary Justice" by Ann Leckie - the one that won the Hugo last year!! - 3 times and consistently failed. I pushed myself to the 3rd or 4th chapter but could not figure out what an "Esk" is, had no sense of the characters' personalities or even who was a main character and who wasn't except for the narrator and I wasn't 100% sure that the whole thing even has the same narrator. Seriously, I needed cliff's notes or an appendix or something to explain all the terminology, cultural designations, etc. It was just too much work, with all that on top of constantly reminding myself that "she" didn't mean "she" over and over. I didn't find that offensive - just that it required effort. My job is mentally taxing all day, and I read for relaxation. Brandon's worlds and cultures are foreign too but way easier to understand.

 

If anyone here can tell me what an "Esk" is, I'll try "Ancillary Justice" again next year. How about it, 17th Shard? Any Leckie fans? She even drinks the same brand of tea I do! I just need an on-ramp...

Edited December 2, 2015 by old aggie

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

hello yes I do need my fluffy scenes.

I like fluffy scenes as much as the next guy (I made little heart shapes with my hands whenever Amy and Rory had a cutesy moment) but nothing is worse than having a potentially fascinating plot drowned out by an overdone romance. Case in point: The Twilight saga.

What we could have had: A small town police chief learns that his best friend is actually a werewolf. As he's still reeling from the news, a sinister vampire begins showering attention on his estranged daughter, drawing this chief into s war he never knew was possible.

What we got: Twilight. Four books of it.

[Kestrel she/her]

I like fluffy scenes as much as the next guy (I made little heart shapes with my hands whenever Amy and Rory had a cutesy moment) but nothing is worse than having a potentially fascinating plot drowned out by an overdone romance. Case in point: The Twilight saga.

What we could have had: A small town police chief learns that his best friend is actually a werewolf. As he's still reeling from the news, a sinister vampire begins showering attention on his estranged daughter, drawing this chief into s war he never knew was possible.

What we got: Twilight. Four books of it.

well yeah, i never said the entire book had to be made of it.

Not even romantic fuff either. I like platonic fluff better, in any case.

[Sphinx]

Must add more confessions here.

 

I have tried 2 of Charles Stross's books and couldn't get very far. Someone told me that his books aren't very character-driven, and I'm guessing that's where I had trouble. But I have good friends that Stross is their favorite author, so I know it's me.

 

Also - and this is very bad - I have now attempted to read "Ancillary Justice" by Ann Leckie - the one that won the Hugo last year!! - 3 times and consistently failed. I pushed myself to the 3rd or 4th chapter but could not figure out what an "Esk" is, had no sense of the characters' personalities or even who was a main character and who wasn't except for the narrator and I wasn't 100% sure that the whole thing even has the same narrator. Seriously, I needed cliff's notes or an appendix or something to explain all the terminology, cultural designations, etc. It was just too much work, with all that on top of constantly reminding myself that "she" didn't mean "she" over and over. I didn't find that offensive - just that it required effort. My job is mentally taxing all day, and I read for relaxation. Brandon's worlds and cultures are foreign too but way easier to understand.

 

If anyone here can tell me what an "Esk" is, I'll try "Ancillary Justice" again next year. How about it, 17th Shard? Any Leckie fans? She even drinks the same brand of tea I do! I just need an on-ramp...

 

 

I'll bite. I'm going to stick the whole thing in spoiler tags for length/so that people who want to read the book themselves can.

 

What an Esk is:

Justice of Toren is a massive troop ship AI hivemind made up of the ship's AI core, as well as large numbers of "ancillaries" that are mentally linked in. These ancillaries are sorted into "decades." The names of the decades are based on the decks of the ship that they occupy. The decks are named after various Raadchai Divine. So there is an Esk Deck, and the primary decade is collectively known as One Esk, the secondary decade is known as Two Esk, etc. Each decade is made up of 20 ancillaries, so One Esk Nineteen is the nineteenth ancillary in the primary decade of the Esk Deck.

 

I loved Ancillary Justice, but it took me a while to get into it. Once I finished the book, I could appreciate the choices the author made, but they definitely took some getting used to and it is definitely not a light read. And if it ends up not being your thing, oh well!

 

Rambling about the narrator/main characters/use of she that shouldn't spoil anything but may help clarify.

The narrator is always the Justice of Toren in some capacity. However the viewpoint jumps from the ship itself, to individual ancillaries and what they are witnessing, and back. For a while, there are two narratives separated by a long span of time that the chapters jump between. This is confusing as all get out, but the payoff is huge and worth it (your mileage may vary, obviously)

 

In the past timeline (the one on the planet they're pacifying) Awn is probably the most important secondary character.

 

In the current timeline (which I don't know if you've gotten to it yet) Seivarden is probably the most important secondary character.

 

Anaander Mianaai is the leader of the Empire and super important, don't know if you've met her yet.

 

As to the she thing, I found it was easier for me to just let myself think of everyone as female for a while at first. It was weird for a while, but I got used to it. It helped for me that it was more a linguistic quirk than anything else, as I've spent some time studying a language where the third person pronoun is gender neutral.

 

I'd be happy to answer other questions in pm or something if you want.

[Delightful]

I now theorize that the teachers were making us read things they liked, thinking that they were treating us like "grown ups," when all they were doing was forcing their tastes on us - sort of like being forced to watch movies that the critics like instead of "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Iron Man." This is one of the best parts of graduating from school: nobody makes you read all that stuff anymore.

BTW, the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy (used in my avatar & signature) is by an Aussie author. It's tween lit, but really really excellent - sort of like a LotR for a younger audience. His use of language is so creative... to me, MBT would never be on this list, but YMMV

I had a teacher who loved Star Wars and still made us read boring government-set books. Then again she chose to teach the heros Journey through The Empire Strikes Back and Mulan so.....not too bad.

I think I started the first Monster Blood Tattoo book and couldn't finish it. It was ages ago, so I don't remember why.

[Iarwainiel I she/her]

Sphinx, you are my hero!

 

And Delightful, I love your holiday avatar!!! The history behind the Feast of Lights has been an inspiration to me in several times of difficulty, but adding the light saber takes it to a whole new level! Very creative. :-)